Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an exterior quality evaluation system that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on January 26th, 2024, published on July 31st, 2025, and assigned serial number 0242829.
The Ford Authority Take
In recent years, Ford has been working to combat quality issues in a variety of ways – whether that be having management spend more time on assembly lines, implementing tougher tests for refreshed and redesigned models, or revisiting previous recalls to ensure they cover all impacted models. These actions likely won’t stop anytime soon, either, and now, the automaker has filed a patent outlining an idea that we may see added to this list at some point – an exterior quality evaluation system that may be used in future Ford vehicles, too.
This particular concept involves taking images of vehicles that are being built on an assembly line – as well as at a transportation depot and even dealerships – to check for all sorts of potential quality issues before those vehicles reach the hands of customers. The system would then analyze those images, and if it determines a problem – say, something like a paint imperfection – it could then redirect the vehicle to the appropriate department to rectify the issue. It’s an interesting idea for certain, and one that could help improve quality, if it comes to fruition.
“Submitting patent applications is a normal part of any strong business as the process protects new ideas and helps us build a robust portfolio of intellectual property,” Ford said in a statement. “The ideas described within a patent application should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans. No matter what the patent application outlines, we will always put the customer first in the decision-making behind the development and marketing of new products and services.”
Comment
It sounds to me like they should be working on a system to evaluate software and external supplier problems. I would like to see a chart comparison of supplier recalls and manufacturing recalls. So far it seems as though the incoming parts from suppliers outnumber any other problem.